The views I’m about to express are not necessarily those of anybody else but me, but they ought to be, and as a matter of fact, they probably are.
I prefer watching sports on TV. It isn’t fun sitting in handicapped sections in stadiums and arenas. Sure, nobody stands up in front of you, but it’s like watching “Wheel of Fortune” at a retirement home. Now I don’t have a problem with all old people, just the ones that go to UK games, especially football. Hal Mumme is the reason why I have this problem.
When Hal Mumme came along in 1997, he promised that Kentucky would play basketball on grass. It was a gimmick, but it won more games than whatever garbage offense Bill Curry was trying to run, and it got people interested in UK football again. Heck, we beat Alabama. That was cool. Thanks to Tim Couch, Craig Yeast, Anthony White, Derek Homer and James Whalen, Kentucky went to the Outback Bowl in 1998. They lost to Penn State, but you had the feeling that this Air Raid stuff might have some staying power in the SEC. After Couch went to the NFL, Dusty Bonner led Kentucky to the Music City Bowl in 1999, where the Cats lost to Syracuse. But consecutive bowl games were consecutive bowl games, right? The games were entertaining for those with short attention spans. Kentucky was turning into BYU in the late 80s.
Then the bottom dropped out. Against Louisville in the 2000 season opener, Kentucky held the advantage until lightning postponed the action for a lengthy period of time. When play resumed, Louisville came back and forced overtime. Instead of trying for a touchdown from the 1-yd-line, Mumme opted for a short field goal, which bounced off the upright. Louisville took the ball and scored on their first play of the overtime, and it was over. Kentucky went 2-9 that year, as SEC defenses finally figured out the Air Raid system. Then it was revealed that Mumme and assistant Claude Bassett committed some serious recruiting violations, Mumme was fired and Kentucky got put on a crippling probation. Since that time, Rich Brooks and his staff have built up the program the right way. They’ve done it cleanly and they’ve used a system that has proven to be successful in the SEC. Probation is merely a memory at this point, so why am I angry at Hal Mumme?
I’m still angry at Hal Mumme because lots of Kentucky football fans (at least the ones that always end up sitting next to me when I go to the games) act like they have ADD. SEC football is a lot like NFL football, in that it is defense oriented. Defense wins championships. I hate that it’s become a cliche, but nowhere does it ring true more than it does in football. In college football, speed wins championships. I mentioned the players I felt were most responsible for getting UK to the Outback Bowl in 1998. It’s no coincidence that none of the players I listed were defensive guys. In the SEC, you have to be able to recruit the south because that’s where all the speed is. Even at the peak of the Mumme era, Kentucky didn’t have the speed to hang with Florida, Georgia or Tennessee. Even Mississippi State and Vanderbilt exploited the flaws in the system. Basically, the system doesn’t work.
So why do fans still clamor for that system? I can’t stand it when people call the call-in shows on Sunday morning and ask why Mike Hartline didn’t throw it deep against Middle Tennessee. Are you stupid? Hartline hasn’t thrown a deep ball because no receiver has proven that he can be an effective deep threat yet. That has never been a forte of Dicky Lyons’ game. Do you see a Keenan Burton or Steve Johnson out there? Another question that killed me was why we kept running up the gut against Louisville. After all, we could have been throwing every down like Jared Lorenzen did, right? Because that’s what you do when you have a lead, an inexperienced QB and a dominating defense, right? You wouldn’t dare sit on the lead and leave it up to the defense to protect that lead and force turnovers.
Coaches Brooks and Phillips know what they’re doing. They wouldn’t have consecutive bowl wins if they didn’t. I’m all for second guessing the staff when the opportunity presents itself. For example, I have no problem with somebody questioning why they sent Lones Seiber out there after he had already missed three field goals. Given the time constraints and timeout situation, it would have made as much sense to run the ball and pin MTSU inside their own 10. I do have problems with the people who argue against Mike Hartline because of his perceived lack of a deep ball. Mike has thrown a handful of bombs this season, and he’s overshot his target on every one of them. Don’t throw the bomb just for the sack of throwing the bomb, or just because it’s something Tim Couch or Jared Lorenzen would do. Basketball on grass is not the answer in the SEC, and it never has been. If you want to submit the Fun n’ Gun offense that Steve Spurrier brought to Florida in the 1990s, keep in mind that his teams had absolute studs at running back and defenses that were chock full of NFL players. I think Mumme put one defensive guy in the NFL, Marlon McCree.
Unfortunately, fans like style over substance far too often, and the Hal Mumme era was four years of pure brainwash from which fans have still yet to recover. And that’s why I hope he continues to be exposed as a gimmick and a fraud at New Mexico State. Probation outweighs any kind of excitement on the field that the era may have brought. Imagine if Eddie Sutton brought a style of play similar to that of the Showtime Lakers, but the results of the tenure were the same, and the probation was the same as well. Would you ever pine for the days of Eddie Sutton? Consider that the next time you want JAY-RUD to throw it deep.
I’m Seth Stogsdill, reminding all you kids out there to play the next play.
